Due to ever-increasing antibiotic resistance, structurally novel antibacterials with a new mode of action have become increasingly important in the treatment of bacterial infections. Effective antibacterials should exhibit potent activity against a number of human and veterinary pathogens, including gram-positive aerobic bacteria such as multiply-resistant staphylococci and streptococci, anaerobic organisms such as bacteroides and clostridia species, and acid-fast organisms such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium. 
Among newer antibacterial agents, oxazolidinone compounds are the most recent synthetic class of antimicrobials active against a number of pathogenic microorganisms. However, some of these oxazolidinones are not absorbed sufficiently to achieve the desired blood levels in a mammalian subject. This invention provides a new type of oxazolidinone prodrug which remarkably enhances oral bioavailability of the compounds described herein. Prodrugs of the present invention are prepared by modifying functional groups present in a compound described herein in such a way that the modifications may be cleaved in vivo to release the parent compound.